Course Description
To make sense of our globalized world, it is important to understand how and with what consequences modernization affects religion and secularity world wide. Traditional modernization theory à la Auguste Comte or Max Weber had claimed that modernization would lead to a continuing decrease of religion. Modernization theory then fell out of favor at the end of the 20th century (Stark 1999). Currently, however, and on the basis of massive amounts of global data, modernization and secularization theory have again gained much prominence (Norris/Inglehart 2012/2004, Inglehart 2021, Pollack/Rosta 2017, Stolz 2021). However, the modernization-value-secularization link is not a linear one, and research has shown that various transitory backlashes and contextual influences of the region are important. This course will give students an overview over classical and modern theories of secularization and value change, show them with what methods such theories are tested and make them familiar with the most important results of the current research.
If they have not yet done so, students will acquire the skill of interpreting statistical tables and graphs in order to make sense of the most important results of value change and secularization research.
A special emphasis will be on difficult cases for the theory of secularization. How can the theory make sense of religious revival in Orthodox countries, the Islamic revival since the 1970s, the Pentecostal movement (since 1900), or the fact that global population projections actually show the religious population growing much faster than the nones (Pew 2015)?
Another special emphasis will be given to consequences of value change and secularization. What does it mean for countries, regions, and the world, to have a growing gap between very religious and very secular countries, populations, and sub-populations? What problems are likely to appear and what solutions are possible? Themes of discussion and possible writing assignments comprise questions of accommodating religious pluralism, religious backlash against secularization, and religious-secular conflict

Learning Outcomes
Learning outcomes are:

• an overview over classical and modern theories of secularization and value change
• a clear sense of the methods with which such theories are tested and the skill of interpreting statistical tables and graph
• familiarity with the most important results of the current research

Syllabus

Teaching and Evaluation Methods

Every week the course consists of 1.5h lecture and 1.5h seminar/discussion. Students will be asked to read a paper / book extract a week, and to summarize and discuss the arguments. Students will also be asked to assess their own country in terms of value change/secularization and argue whether or not the predictions of modernization theory fit their country. We will also try out the measurement tools of value and secularization research on ourselves in the classroom to get a feel for possible cross-cultural bias and measurement problems. Students are expected to write a short 5-page research paper and there will be a final exam

• Participating in class: 20%
• Research paper: 40%
• Oral exam: 40%

Bibliography

• Carvalho, Jean-Paul. 2009. "A Theory of the Islamic Revival." Economics Series Working Papers 424.
• Gauthier, François. 2020. "(What is left of) secularization?" Social Compass 67 (2):309-314.
• Inglehart, Ronald and Christian Welzel. 2005. Modernization, Cultural Change, and Democracy. The Human Development Sequence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Heelas, Paul, and Linda Woodhead. 2004. The Spiritual Revolution: Why Religion is Giving Way to Spirituality: Wiley Blackwell.
• Müller, Tobias. 2020. "Secularization theory and its discontents: Recapturing decolonial and gendered narratives." Social Compass 67 (2):315-322.
• Norris, Pippa and Ronald Inglehart. 2012 (2004). Sacred and Secular. Religion and Politics Worldwide. Second Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Pew, Research Center. 2016. "The Gender Gap in Religion around the World."
• Pew, Research Center. 2017. "Orthodox Christianity in the 21st Century." Nov. 8.
• Poushter, Jacob, and Nicholas O. Kent. 2020. "The Global Divide on Homosexuality Persists." Pew Research Center (June).
• Pew Research Center. 2015. "The Future of World Religions. Population Growth Projections 2010-2050."
• Stark, Rodney. 1999. "Secularization, R.I.P." Sociology of Religion 60(3):249-73.
• Stolz, Jörg. 2020a. "Secularization Theories in the 21st Century: Ideas, Evidence, Problems. Presidential Address." Social Compass 67(2):282-308.
• Stolz, Jörg, Nan Dirk De Graaf, Conrad Hackett, and Jean-Philippe Antonietti. 2025. "The Three Stages of Religious Decline Around the World" Nature Communications 16 (7202). doi: DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/VCZTA.
• Stolz, Jörg. 2011. ""All Things Are Possible". Towards a Sociological Explanation of Pentecostal Miracles and Healings." Sociology of Religion 72 (4):456-482.
• Voas, David. 2008. "The Continuing Secular Transition." In The Role of Religion in Modern Societies, edited by Detlef Pollack and Daniel V.A. Olson, 25-48. New York: Routledge.
• Voas, David and Mark Chaves. 2016. "Is the United States a Counterexample to the Secularization Thesis?". American Journal of Sociology 121(5):1517-56.
• Wallis, Roy, and Steve Bruce. 1995. "Secularization: The Orthodox Model." In The sociology of religion, edited by Steve Bruce, 693-715. Aldershot: Elgar.

Course duration: 40 hours of tuition
Credits equivalence: 6 ECTS

Last updated: April 23, 2026